7:30 p.m.	It’s a Funny, Mad, Sad World: The Movies of George Kuchar George Kuchar (U.S., 1962–77)

George Kuchar's films defy categorization. In Kuchar's own words, they are simply "moving pictures." But the overused term "independent" truly applies to Kuchar, the creative force and technical wizard of "no-budget" moviemaking: he is at once director, cinematographer, writer, actor, editor; designer of lighting, special effects, sound, costumes, and sets; and make-up artist. His prolific career (over two hundred movies) began at age thirteen, in collaboration with his twin brother Mike, when they acquired a regular-8mm camera and started to make home movies. Their hilariously exaggerated but affectionate send-ups of Hollywood melodramas and comic-book stories were replete with "superstars" drawn from their Bronx circle of friends, neighbors, and relatives (especially Mom). In the sixties, George and Mike graduated to 16mm, and began to work separately. For George, the themes and obsessions of the earliest works persist: sex and religion; monsters and aliens; pets and nature, especially weather; bodily dysfunctions, eating, and mother, in works that are absurdly funny and irreverent yet angst-ridden.

—Edith Kramer

• Shorts selected by Edith Kramer: Night of the Bomb (George and Mike Kuchar, 1962, 18 mins @ 18 fps, 8mm preserved to 16mm, Sound on CD, Color, From Anthology Film Archives). Hold Me While I'm Naked (1966, 17 mins, Color, PFA Collection). Knocturne (1968, 10 mins, Color, From Canyon Cinema). A Reason to Live (1976, 30 mins, B&W, From Canyon Cinema). I an Actress (1977, 10 mins, B&W, From Canyon Cinema)

• (Total running time: 85 mins, 16mm)